SIDE A THE FIREBIRD-SUITE:a) INTRODUCTION (3:38)b) THE PRINCESSES' GAME... (3:59)c) INFERNAL DANCE OF ALL KASHCHEI's SUBJECTS (7:08)d) TABLEAU (5:01)

SIDE BTHE RITE OF SPRING-SUITE:a) THE ADORATION OF THE EARTH (3:53)b) DANCES OF THE YOUNG GIRLS (5:55)c) SPRING ROUND DANCE (7:41)SABRE DANCE (5:57)

Stefan Pasborg about this project:''Sundays in my childhood home were filled with classical music. Both my mother and stepfather were dancers at The Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. Together, they enjoyed listening to classical music every Sunday - especially the ballets of Igor Stravinsky.I recall having a serious challenge enjoying the music with them... I wasn't AT ALL ready to get a kick out of "The Rite of Spring"... Being a huge fan of Elvis Presley, The Police, and heavy metal music at the time, my musical preferences were completely elsewhere.But at 9 years of age, something happened to me while seeing "The Rite of Spring": I remember getting intense goose bumps when the first rhythms of the so-called "Dances of the Young Girls" began.That particular feeling has stayed with me ever since and, reflecting on it now, must have been the starting point of this album.Since then, I had dreamt of combining those early impressions with my own sounds as a professional musician.In 2008, I decided to create a small suite with interpretations of 5 parts from Stravinsky’s "The Firebird" for my group Pasborg’s Odessa 5. It debuted at the NattJazz Festival in Bergen, Norway in May of 2009. I never released any recordings of my interpretations with that band, except for a version of "Infernal Dance of all Kashchei's Subjects", which can be found on Pasborg’s Odessa "X-tra Large" (Stunt Records, 2010).In 2011, I was invited to be an Artist-in-Residence at the Copenhagen Jazzhouse. One of those concerts was dedicated exclusively to interpretations of selected pieces of classical music from my childhood: "The Rite of Spring" (Stravinsky), "The Nutcracker" (Tchaikovsky), "Scheherazade" (Rimsky-Korsakov), and "Sabre Dance" (Aram Khachaturian). I named the band after "The Firebird", since that particular piece was the starting point of this project.After experimenting with different band constellations, I eventually ended up in the trio format. I love the special sound with my two great colleagues: Anders Filipsen on keyboards, and Anders Banke on saxophone and clarinet. I also really enjoy the fact that only 3 musicians are performing the music that was originally written for symphony orchestras.All the interpretations are done with a seriousness and the deepest respect for the original material - but also with a certain amount of humor.It has been a wonderful journey realizing this project. I sincerely hope you enjoy the music as much as I have enjoyed creating the condensed interpretations, and as much as we enjoyed performing them! - Stefan Pasborg, Copenhagen 2014.